Festive holiday lights

1.
People shop at a local market during preparations for Christmas in Bhopal, India, on Dec. 21, 2013. Despite the fact that Christians are only a little over two percent of the Indian population, Christmas is celebrated throughout the country.
Sanjeev Gupta / EPA

3.
Trees are decorated with lights to celebrate the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays at Garden of Morning Calm in Gapyeong, South Korea, on Dec. 20, 2013. Christmas is one of the biggest holidays in South Korea, where over half of the population is Christian.
Ahn Young-Joon / AP

6.
Sara Ringkrans, 28, a primary school teacher from York who moved to the U.K. from Stockholm, prepares to lead off the procession at the start of the Sankta Lucia festival of light service at York Minster on Dec. 19, 2013 in York, England. The Swedish tradition of Sankta Lucia shares many similarities with advent processions. It symbolizes bringing light into the dark winter and is one of the most significant services in the Swedish ecclesiastical calendar.
Ian Forsyth / Getty Images

10.
Lights for the holidays illuminate the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 18 in New York City.
John Moore / Getty Images

11.
A tourist lights a candle at the Church of Nativity, revered as birthplace of Jesus, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Dec. 18.
Ammar Awad / Reuters

12.
A man uses his mobile device to take photographs of a Christmas tree in front of the landmark Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Dec. 18. Malaysia is 60 percent Muslim and Islam is the state religion. Only about nine percent of the poulation is Christian.
Ahmad Yusni / EPA

17.
Christmas lights outline towers at the Country Club Plaza shopping center as the sun sets Dec. 15 in Kansas City, Mo. About 80 miles of lights with 280,000 multi-colored bulbs outline the buildings and towers in the shopping district.
Charlie Riedel / AP

18.
Catholics shelture under umbrellas as they attend the traditional 'Misa de Gallo' (Dawn Mass) during a downpour in front of a church in Las Pinas city, south of Manila, the Philippines, on Dec. 16. The Dawn Mass is held for nine consecutive days prior to Christmas Day.
Francis R. Malasig / EPA

21.
The lights in the Christmas tree on the central square in Gouda are switched on during the traditional candle-evening in Gouda, Netherlands, on Dec. 13. During the event, hundreds of candles burn behind the windows of the houses and the town hall. Gouda is well-known for its candle factory.
Koen Van Weel / AFP - Getty Images

23.
People gather around the lights of the 'Bright Christmas' display in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Dec. 12.
Orlando Barrã­a / EPA

24.
"The Lights of Christmas" display is projected onto St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney on Dec. 12. The graphics depict the story of Christmas and will run nightly until Christmas night.
James Horan / EPA

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Bus driver Edilson, 45, also known as "Fumassa," works while wearing a Santa Claus outfit in a bus festooned with Christmas decorations in Santo Andre on the outskirts of Sao Paulo on Dec. 10.
Nacho Doce / Reuters

26.
The ceiling of the Marktkirche ("The Church on the Marketplace") is bathed in color for a Christmas light display on Dec. 9, 2013, in Hanover, Germany.
Peter Steffen / AFP - Getty Images

28.
Guests gather next to a Christmas tree outside 10 Downing Street, the office of Britain's prime minister, in central London on Dec. 9 after the holiday lights were turned on.
Lefteris Pitarakis / AP

29.
A man photographs Christmas trees in front of a church in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, on Dec. 8. The display contained one tree for each of the 47 victims of a train derailment carrying crude oil that burned most of the historic downtown in July.
Paul Chiasson / Canadian Press via AP

32.
Children play in a holiday light display on Royal Treaty Street in Warsaw, Poland, on Dec. 7.
Pawel Supernak / EPA

33.
The facade of a building is lit up for The Festival Of Lights in Lyon, France, on Dec. 7. The event began as a tribute to the Virgin Mary as part of a promise made when an outbreak of plague subsided in 1643.
Bruno Vigneron / Getty Images

34.
A child plays under lit mushrooms in the "Light Labyrinth" in the Wilanow Palace Garden in Warsaw, Poland, on Dec. 6. The labyrinth, made of over 150,000 colored lamps and based on themes from "Alice in Wonderland," is a winter attraction for children.
Alik Keplicz / AP

37.
Rabbi Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar, her daughter, Aiden Bahar, and Victor Vanleeuwen light the last candle on the Menorah on the last day of Hanukkah in Big Spring International Park in Huntsville, Ala., on Dec. 5. The Menorah is made from exhaust pipes and the candles are soda cans filled with oil.
Eric Schultz / AP

38.
Trees are bathed in red light at the Chinese Corner installation by artist Li Li during the rehearsal for the Festival of Lights in central Lyon, France, on Dec. 5.
Robert Pratta / Reuters

40.
Angels made of wire and light frame the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree after it was lit Dec. 4 in New York City.
Kathy Willens / AP

41.
Israel Electric, the main supplier of electrical power in Israel, creates an interpretation of a menorah using cranes, as they try to create the world's largest menorah to celebrate Hanukkah in the Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv on Dec. 4. The menorah consists of nine aerial platforms: the Shamash (the "attendant" candle) crane will rise to a height of 28 meters (92 feet) and the other eight cranes will stretch their arms to a height of 22 meters (72 feet). The Hanukkah holiday commemorates the re-dedication of the holy temple in Jerusalem after the Jews' 165 B.C. victory over the Hellenist Syrians when Antiochus, the Greek King of Syria, outlawed Jewish rituals and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods.
Jack Guez / AFP - Getty Images

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Two women inspect advent stars at a shop in a Christmas Market in Berlin on Dec. 4. Dozends of Christmas markets offer decorations around the holidays in central Berlin during advent.
Markus Schreiber / AP

44.
A visitor passes by an artistic Christmas tree created by French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier on display during the exhibition 'Les Sapins de Noel des Createurs' (The Designers Christmas Trees) at the Hotel de Rothschild, in Paris on Dec. 3. Every year, renowned personalities from the world of fashion, design or architecture, offer their vision of a Christmas tree for a charity auction.
Yoan Valat / EPA

45.
The National Christmas tress stands lit near the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Dec. 3.
Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images

50.
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man prays and lights candles on the fifth night of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, the festival of light, at the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Sheaarim on Dec. 1 in Jerusalem. Hanukkah commemorates the re-dedication of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 165 BC following the victory of the Jewish Maccabees over the Seleucid Empire when there was only enough consecrated olive oil to fuel the eternal flame in the Temple for one day, but miraculously, the oil burned for eight days.
Uriel Sinai / Getty Images

51.
A man holds a child in front of a Christmas tree that was lit during a ceremony outside the Church of Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Dec. 1.
Ammar Awad / Reuters